The Essence of Lived Experiences of Grassroots Innovators a Phenomenological Study

268 Pages·2015·3.07 MB·English

by  Rajul Gajendra Joshi

THE ESSENCE OF LIVED EXPERIENCES OF GRASSROOTS
INNOVATORS
A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

by
RAJUL GAJENDRA JOSHI

In fulfillment of the requirements of

Doctor of Philosophy
Faculty of Business
The University of Technology Sydney

2015
Certificate of Original Authorship

I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor
has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully
acknowledged within the text.
I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in
my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In
addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the
thesis.

Signature of Student:
Date:

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Acknowledgements

At the outset, I would like to thank my parents Mrs Vinodini Joshi and Mr Gajendra
Joshi, who implanted the seeds of exploring the world of knowledge. Their unwavering
faith in my capabilities and encouragement has helped me to surpass all the
adversities.

I owe a sincere gratitude, to my sister Charool Sreekumar, my brother-in-law
Sreekumar Sreedharan, for supporting me emotionally throughout the four years of
my research. Special thanks to my two lovely nieces, Archita and Aalapi, for helping me
sail through research journey joyfully. I would also like to thank my sister Shital Joshi
for her support and unerring confidence in my capabilities. I offer gratitude to my
brother, sister-in-law and my entire extended family for their support during the field
work.

The research project got operationalised because of the consent and assistance of Dr
Anil Gupta and Dr Vipin Kumar. I would like to thank Mr Mahesh Patel, Mr Rakesh
Mahehswari and the entire team of National Innovation Foundation, HoneyBee
Network and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and
Institutions for assisting me in reaching out the grassroots innovators during fieldwork.
Special thanks to all the 13 grassroots innovators for participating in this research and
sharing their innovation journey. I would also like to acknowledge all the grassroots
innovators of India whose stories and innovations have influenced this project
indirectly.

I would like to thank, my brilliant, patient and wise supervisory panel for their
commitment and guidance - Dr Chelliah, thank you for bringing out best in me through
your ardent supervision skills; Dr Suresh Sood, thank you for your reviews and support
and; Dr Stephen Burdon, thank you for the alternate perspective on the topic, reviews,
guidance and encouragement.
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There are numerous other people and organisations whose support has assisted in the
completion of this research journey. Thanks to all my friends, peer-researchers,
research café friends and unknown reviewers for their feedback on my work and
patient hearing. I extend my gratitude to Mr Divyesh Mehta for his selfless serive in
formatting this thises and to Mr Achal Saraiya for helping me with the presentations. I
would like to thank the team of Elite Editing, for editorial intervention and assisting in
editing thesis as per Australian Standards for Editing Practice.

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Contents
Certificate of Original Authorship ................................................................................ii
Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................iii
List of Journal Articles, Conference Papers, Reports and Presentations Arising
from the Thesis .............................................................................................................viii
List of Figures.................................................................................................................ix
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................x
List of Plates ...................................................................................................................xi
List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................xiii
Abstract.........................................................................................................................xvi
Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................1
1.1 Motivation ...............................................................................................................1
1.2 Situating the Thesis .................................................................................................5
1.2.1 India and Grassroots Innovation ......................................................................9
1.3 Research Purpose and Objectives .........................................................................14
1.4 Research Questions ...............................................................................................14
1.5 Outline of the Thesis .............................................................................................15
Chapter 2: Literature Review......................................................................................18
2.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................18
2.2 Informal Economy and Inclusive Innovation........................................................18
2.3 Grassroots Innovation Discourse ..........................................................................23
2.3.1 Attributes of Grassroots Innovation ...............................................................27
2.3.2 Attributes of Grassroots Innovators ...............................................................32
2.4 Fostering Grassroots Innovators ...........................................................................34
2.4.1 Grassroots Innovation Eco-System................................................................35
2.4.2 Protection .......................................................................................................38
2.4.3 Benefit-Sharing ..............................................................................................40
2.5 Grassroots Innovation Studies...............................................................................43
2.6 Conclusion.............................................................................................................49
Chapter 3: Theoretical Orientation.............................................................................51
3.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................51
3.2 Theoretical Orientation .........................................................................................52
3.2.1 Exchange Theory ...........................................................................................57
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3.2.2 Diffusion Theory............................................................................................61
3.3 Innovative Behaviour and the Exchange Relationship .........................................65
3.3.1 Exchange and Interpersonal Relationships ....................................................70
3.4 Conclusion.............................................................................................................73
Chapter 4: Research Approach ...................................................................................75
4.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................75
4.2 Overview of Research Philosophy........................................................................77
4.2.1 Phenomenological Framework ......................................................................79
4.2.2 Role of the Researcher ...................................................................................82
4.2.3 Phenomenological Approach in Innovation Studies ......................................83
4.3 Research Design....................................................................................................84
4.4 Research Strategy..................................................................................................85
4.4.1 Sample and Data Collection Procedure .........................................................87
4.4.2 Interpretation and Analysis ............................................................................88
4.4.3 Coding Procedure...........................................................................................91
4.4.4 Limitations .....................................................................................................95
4.4.5 Ethical Considerations ...................................................................................96
4.5 Conclusion.............................................................................................................96
Chapter 5: Lived Experiences and Findings ..............................................................98
5.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................98
5.2 Lived Experiences .................................................................................................99
5.2.1 Amrutbhai Agrawat (AA) ..............................................................................99
5.2.2 Bharatbhai Agrawat (BA) ............................................................................104
5.2.3 Bachubhai Thesia (BT) ................................................................................107
5.2.4 Ganesh Dodiya (GD) ...................................................................................109
5.2.5 Gopal Surtia (GS).........................................................................................111
5.2.6 Mansukh Jagani (MJ)...................................................................................113
5.2.7 Mansukh Patel (MP) ....................................................................................115
5.2.8 Mansukh Prajapati (MPP)............................................................................118
5.2.9 Mohanbhai Savjibhai Patel (MSP)...............................................................122
5.2.10 Paresh Panchal (PP) ...................................................................................123
5.2.11 Sanjay Tilwa (ST) ......................................................................................125
5.2.12 Sakrabhai Valldas Prajapati (SP) ...............................................................127
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5.2.13 Yagnesh Mehta (YM) ................................................................................128
5.3 Mining the Lived Experiences of Grassroots Innovators....................................132
5.3.1 Purpose, Process and Support System .........................................................139
5.3.2 Background, Capabilities and Beliefs ..........................................................149
5.4 Underpinning Themes.........................................................................................156
5.4.1 Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Aspects of the GI Phenomenon.................157
5.4.2 Entrepreneurial and Emancipatory Aspects of the Grassroots Innovation
Phenomenon ................................................................................................161
5.5 Conclusion...........................................................................................................164
Chapter 6: Discussion .................................................................................................165
6.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................165
6.2 Phenomenology of GI .........................................................................................165
6.2.1 Being a Grassroots Innovator.......................................................................166
6.2.2 Essence of GI ...............................................................................................170
6.3 Grassroots Innovation as a Source of Entrepreneurship and Emancipation .......186
6.4 Conclusion...........................................................................................................193
Chapter 7: Conclusion ................................................................................................194
7.1 Research Questions and Findings .......................................................................195
7.2 Theoretical Implications......................................................................................198
7.3 Discussion of the Empirical Findings .................................................................199
7.4 Policy Implications..............................................................................................201
7.5 Limitations and Agenda for Future Study...........................................................202
7.6 Final Comments ..................................................................................................203
7.7 Personal Reflection .............................................................................................204
Appendix 1: Ethics Approval Letter .........................................................................209
Appendix 2: Questionnaire ........................................................................................210
Appendix 3: List of key words used by the respondents .........................................217
Appendix 6 : Plates ....................................................................................................219
References ....................................................................................................................233
Personal Communications..........................................................................................250

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List of Journal Articles, Conference Papers, Reports and
Presentations Arising from the Thesis
x Joshi, R. G. 2015, “Fostering rural development through the mobilisation of the
grassroots innovations (GI)”, Transformations for the Sustainable Development
Goals in Asia and the Pacific Regional Report, UNESCAP Report, Available at :
http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/RRSOED-Fostering-transformation-
through-the-mobilization-of-grassroots-innovations-by-Rajul-G.-Joshi.pdf

x Joshi, R. G., Chelliah, J., Veera, R, 2015 “Exploring the phenomenon of
grassroots innovation through the lived experience of an Indian Grassroots
Innovator’, South Asian Journal of Global Business Research, vol . 4, no. 1, p :
27-44.
x Joshi, R.G. & Chelliah, J. 2013, “Sharing the benefits of commercialisation of
traditional knowledge: what are the key success factors?” The Intellectual
Property Forum no. 93.
x Joshi R. G., 2015 presented “Phenomenological approach to study the essence
of grassroots innovations”, in the session Indian Ecosystem for Inclusive
Innovations, at the Third International Conference on Creativity and
Innovations at Grassroots (ICCIG-3), Indian Institute of Management
Ahmedabad, India January 19-23, 2015
x Joshi R.G., 2012 presented ‘Diffusion of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Grass
root innovation (GRI): Market-driven and Benefit sharing aspects” in the session
“Ethical knowledge management & Intellectual Property' at the Indigenous
Knowledge and Biodiversity forum India and Australia, UTS Law, Australia,
August 2-4, 2012
x Joshi R. G. 2014, presented extended abstract “Indian grassroots innovations
th
are spinning yarn of rural development” in the 5 Asia-Pacific Innovation
Conference at University of Technology Sydney, 2014, November 27-29, 2014
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List of Figures

Figure 1.1: State-Wise Distribution of Grassroots Innovators in India ........................... 12
Figure 1.2: State-Wise Distribution of Various Types of GI in India................................ 13
Figure: 1.3: Thesis Structure ........................................................................................... 17
Figure 2.1: Innovation network for mobilising and diffusing GI (Joshi & Chelliah
2013) .............................................................................................................. 37
Figure 2.3: Key Factors Affecting Benefit Sharing and Exchange Mechanisms in GI
(Joshi & Chelliah 2013) ................................................................................... 42
Figure 3.1: Lived Experience of Indian Grassroots Innovators (Self Compiled) .............. 65
Figure 3.2: Innovation as Social Action (Hellström 2004) ............................................... 67
Figure 3.3: Theoretical and Conceptual Framework (Self Compiled) ............................. 73
Figure 4.1: Research Paradigm (Self Compiled) .............................................................. 76
Figure 4.2: The Stages and Process of Data Analysis (Self-Compiled) ............................ 94
Figure 5.1: Sources of support in Ideation and Opportunity Recognition (Self
Compiled) ..................................................................................................... 144
Figure 5.2: Sources of Funding at Seeding/Initial Stage (Self Compiled) ...................... 147
Figure: 5.3: Deficiency in operationalising GI for commercial Scaling (Self Compiled) 149
Figure: 5.4: Characteristics of Grassroots Innovators (Self Compiled) ......................... 153
Figure: 5.5: Elements of Lived Experiences of Grassroots Innovators (Self Compiled) 156
Figure: 6.2: Essence of Grassroots Innovation (Self Compiled) .................................... 193

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List of Tables

Table 1.1: Context of the Three Economies ...................................................................... 8
Table 2.1: Reasons for IE Participation ........................................................................... 20
Table 2.2: Determinants of the Below-the-radar innovations ........................................ 25
Table 2.3: GI and Associated Innovations ....................................................................... 30
Table 2.4: Dimension of GI and Associated Innovations ................................................ 31
Table 2.5: Characteristics of Grassroots Innovators ....................................................... 33
Table 2.6: Research on Grassroots Innovators ............................................................... 47
Table 3.1: Features of Exchange ..................................................................................... 72
Table 4.1: The Hermeneutic Triad (Hernadi 1987) ......................................................... 89
Table 5.1: GI Explored ................................................................................................... 135
Table 5.2: Socio-Demographic Data of Grassroots Innovators ..................................... 137
Table 5.3: Aspects of Lived Experiences ....................................................................... 139
Table 5.4: Frequency of Themes Related to Challenges in GI....................................... 148
Table 5.5: General and Sub Themes ............................................................................. 157
Table 5.6: Frequency of Themes Related to Capabilities .............................................. 158
Table 5.7: Frequency of Themes Related to Exchange Relationship ............................ 160
Table 6.1: Elements of Being Grassroots Innovator ..................................................... 169
Table 6.2: Nature of Entrepreneurship at the Grassroots ............................................ 170
Table 6.3: Exchange fostering Grassroots Innovations ................................................. 178
Table 6.4: Interpretive framework for Exchange Relationship ..................................... 179
Table 6.5: Innovation and entrepreneurial behaviour at the grassroots ..................... 185

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